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Legend has it that George Washington cut down a cherry tree when he was a child. But will all the cuts happening at the federal level affect any of the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin?
The National Park Service is adamant that they will not.
“We don’t see, currently, any impact to our support to the cherry blossoms,” said Kevin Griess, who just became the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks back in November.
“The Cherry Blossom Festival is a sustainable, continuing mission, and we continue to support it,” he added. “It’s part of our identity and who we are. And there’s lots of speculation about cuts and things. That’s the president’s initiatives, and we’ll adjust to them. We continue on with the mission.”
But that’s not to say that NPS employees in the area haven’t been impacted, and that those who remain in the area won’t have to adjust. Griess said an agency that already relies on volunteers and passionate park supporters will continue to lean on them for support.
“I think the national park system is part of the blood of America. It has been for well over 100 years,” Griess said. “We want every citizen to partake in our parks, come and enjoy the experience and learn what the American spirit is about. And we’re here to sustain it. So, any support from children, our Junior Rangers, all the way up to volunteers in the park, to just sending us some love and some hugs across social media — it all works.”
One disruption that is evident around D.C.’s Tidal Basin is the ongoing replacement of the sea wall near the Jefferson Memorial. A section of the Tidal Basin close to Interstate 395 has been fenced off during construction, and nearly 150 trees have been removed.
“We are well past the halfway point of rebuilding the sea wall around the Tidal Basin,” said spokesman Mike Litterst. “There will be some impacts this year. Obviously, we haven’t replanted the trees that had to come down. There’s construction fencing, but all of the pathways are open. All of the roads are open. And while we did have to remove about 148 cherry trees, there are still 2,500 blooming cherry trees around the Tidal Basin.”
And down the line, those 148 trees are getting replaced by the 250 new trees donated by Japan.
They’ll be planted next spring when the seawall construction is finished to help America celebrate its 250th birthday. The trees are already in the U.S. and being quarantined ahead of next year. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore what’s there this year.
“Eighty percent of the Tidal Basin is unaffected by this,” Litterst said. “We’ve still got 2,500 cherry trees. You likely won’t miss the 148 that got taken down. No reason at all to say, ‘Well, there’s nothing to see this year, we won’t go down.'”
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